Inflatable life rafts



I Juay 3, 1956 J. F. COATES ETAL 2,752,516

INFLATABLE LIFE RAFTS Filed Jan. 7, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l y 3, 1956 J. F. COATES ETAL 2,752,616

INFLATABLE LIFE RAFTS Filed Jan. 7, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent INFLATABLE LIFE RAFTS John Francis Coates, London, England, and James Henry Clarke and John Godfrey, Llwynypla, Rhondda, Wales Application January 7, 1954, Serial No. 402,724

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 15, 1953 4 Claims. (CI. 9-11) This invention relates to inflatable life rafts of the kind comprising an inflatable main buoyancy tube adapted to constitute the sides of the raft, there being an inflatable floor for the raft secured to the main buoyancy tube.

With life rafts of the kind just indicated, it is desirable to provide seating accommodation, and preferably the occupants of the raft are seated with their backs against the main buoyancy tube and with their feet extending towards the centre of the inflatable raft floor. Inflatable seats may therefore be secured over the inflatable floor adjacent to the inner side of the main buoyancy tube.

A very important consideration in relation to inflatable life rafts is the total weight of the life raft when deflated and in its containing valise. It is the primary object with inflatable life rafts so to devise the raft so as to give the optimum accommodation with best available comfort, whilst reducing the weight of the packed raft in its valise to a minimum. The invention is intended to assist in fulfilling these desiderata.

According to the present invention, there is provided an inflatable raft of the kind specified, having a seat formed by an inflatable envelope and a sheet of material, said inflatable envelope being secured to the floor of the raft and being spaced away from the main buoyancy tube and joined thereto by said sheet of material, so that said inflatable envelope serves to raise the sheet above floor level upon inflation of the raft, the floor beneath the seat being substantially non-inflatable in the area that is overlaid by the seat.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of one embodiment, and

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of a second embodiment.

Referring first to Figure 1, this illustrates a life raft having a main peripheral buoyancy tube 1 of generally oval shape as seen in plan. In the figure, only part of the raft is shown but the general shape of the tube 1 and the whole raft will be readily apparent. The main tube 1 may be composite in the sense that it is compartmental and can be separately inflated from separate sources of pressure medium.

Substantially co-planar with the main buoyancy tube 1, is a main central inflatable thwart 2, which divides the interior of the raft into two halves. (In the figure, only a small part of the thwart 2 is shown to assist the clarity of the drawing.) A floor 3 of flexible material is attached to the main tube 1 and to the thwart 2. The floor 3 is made inflatable within each half of the raft, except for a strip 4 adjacent the main tube 1, and is divided throughout its longitudinal extent by reedings shown at 3a. Above the strip 4, lies the seating means which comprises an inflatable envelope 5 shaped to conform with the inner periphery of the main buoyancy tube 1, the envelope 5 being joined to the main tube 1 by a sheet of Fee flexible material 6. The arrangement of the sheet 6 is such that when the inflatable envelope 5 is inflated and the raft is in use, the sheet 6 is substantially parallel to the floor 3 and extends over about half the total seat area afforded by the envelope 5 and the sheet 6. The inflatable envelope 5 is divided throughout its longitudinal extent by parallel reeds located within the envelope and arranged to ensure that when the latter is inflated the front portion 7 of the envelope has a cylindrical form followed by a next portion 8, also of cylindrical form but of decreased diameter, and followed by a third portion 9 also of cylindrical form but of least diameter. The front portion 7 is secured upon the edge of the inflatable part of the floor 3, whilst the sheet 6 is secured towards the top of the back portion 9. To allow for inflation of the floor 3 and the envelope 5, valves 15 are also provided.

It will be appreciated that the arrangement of the seat just described is confined to one half of the raft, there being a similar arrangement in the other half of the raft.

The embodiment shown in Figure 2 is somewhat similar to the embodiment just described and similar parts are denoted by similar reference letters. However, in this second embodiment the inflatable envelope 10 in one half of the raft is adapted to be inflated into a simple, curved axis, cylindrical form and is attached to the edge of the inflatable part of the floor 3 of the raft. A sheet of flexible material 11 is attached to the inflatable envelope in one half of the raft and extends therefrom to the main buoyancy tube 1. The sheet 11 is attached to the main buoyancy tube 1 at a relatively high location so that upon inflation of the inflatable envelope 10, when the raft is in use, the sheet overlies the uninflated portion of the floor and diverges upwardly therefrom towards the main buoyancy tube ll. Hence the sheet constitutes almost the whole of the seat thus afforded. Additionally, the sheet 11 has an upstanding edge portion 12, which lies against the central thwart 2, there being a hole (not shown) in this edge portion 12, while hole lies opposite a similar hole 13 in the edge portion 14 on the opposite side of the thwart 2, of a similar sheet 11a lying in the other half of the raft. A cord 16 is passed through the two holes to hold the edge portions in correct relative positions to one another. It will be appreciated that there is a similar arrangement of holes and cord on the opposite side of the raft not shown in the figure.

We claim:

1. An inflatable life raft comprising an inflatable main buoyancy tube constituting the sides of the raft, a partially inflatable floor for said raft, non-inflatable margins to said floor attached at their edges to the main buoyancy tube, an inflatable envelope secured to said margins and spaced away from the main buoyancy tube, and a sheet of material secured at opposed edges to the main buoyancy tube and to the inflatable envelope, whereby, upon inflation of the raft, the inflatable envelope serves to raise the sheet of material above the level of the floor, and the inflatable envelope and the sheet of material together form a seat overlying said non-inflatable margins.

2. An inflatable life raft comprising an inflatable main buoyancy tube constituting the sides of the raft, a partially inflatable floor for said raft, non-inflatable margins to said floor attached at their edges to the main buoyancy tube, an inflatable envelope secured to said margins and spaced away from the main buoyancy tube, reeding in said inflatable envelope dividing the envelope throughout its longitudinal extent into a plurality of cylindrical portions when inflated, and a sheet of material secured at opposed edges to the main buoyancy tube and to the inflatable envelope, whereby, upon inflation of the raft, the inflatable envelope serves to raise the sheet of material above the level of the floor, and the inflatable envelope and the sheet of material together form a seat overlying I said non-inflatable margins.

3. An inflatable life raft as. claimed in claim 2, wherein said reeding divides the envelope into a plurality of cylindrical portions of decreasing diameter from the front portion towards the portion nearest the main buoyancy tube, the edge of the sheet of material which is secured to the inflatable envelope and to the main buoyancy tube being secured to that portion nearest to the main buoyancy tube.

4. An inflatable life raft comprising an inflatable main buoyancy tube constituting the sides of the raft, a partially inflatable floor for said raft, non-inflatable margins to said floor attached at their edges to the main buoyancy tube, an inflatable envelope of simple cylindrical form secured to said margins and spaced away from the main buoyancy tube, and a sheet of material secured along one 4; edge at a relatively high location on the main buoyancy tube, and secured along an opposed edge to the inflatable envelope, whereby, upon inflation of the raft the sheet overlies the non-inflatable margins and diverges therefrom towards the main buoyancy tube, the inflatable envelope and the sheet of material together forming a seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,686,366 Boyle Oct. 2, 1928 2,334,072 Cooper Nov. 9, 1943 2,396,212 Spanel Mar. 5, 1946 2,444,859 Sturtevant July 6, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 625,129 Great Britain June 22, 1949 

